Before she realized what he was doing, he placed his hand on her shoulder. His touch seared her with pain and images. She saw a man she didn't know. He stood in the middle of a crowded New York street, screaming for someone to see him. To hear him.
He tried to reach out to people, but they all walked straight through his body. As they did so, the sensation of their souls brushing through him pierced his phantom body like shards of poisoned glass. It stung and burned so raw that it was an indescribable pain.
She could feel the rancid hunger that gnawed so deep inside of him that it, too, defied description. The thirst that burned his parched mouth and lips like some unquenchable fire that refused to be sated. He was overwhelmed by the unrelenting physical agony, by the mental loneliness that ached for one second of conversation.
Some inner, silent part of him was screaming out, begging for death.
Begging for forgiveness.
Alexion released her. He dipped his head down to speak angrily in her ear. "That is what being a Shade feels like, Danger. Is that really what you want?"
She struggled to breathe through the emotions that choked her. It was beyond even her worst nightmare. She'd never imagined such a hell could exist. Even now the image of that man was still branded in her mind. It hurt her in a way that surprised her. "Who is he?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"His name is Erius and for more than two thousand years he has lived that horrific existence."
Alexion's tone was deep and resonant. He stood so close to her that as he spoke, his hot breath tickled her skin. "At one time, he thought he could be a god. He thought all he had to do was kill humans and suck out their souls like a Daimon. Just like Kyros is trying to do, he gathered together a group of DarkHunters to revolt against Acheron and Artemis. He told them that he could lead them to freedom. That all of them had the ability to be gods too. All they had to do was listen to him and follow his example."
Swallowing against the sudden lump in her throat, she looked up at him, searching for the truth that was finally coming to light. "Are you the one who killed him?"
"No," he said, his tone and gaze gentling. "Acheron did. He went to him and tried to explain everything, but Erius refused to listen. He had it in his mind that Acheron had discovered the secret of the Daimons' powers and that Acheron was hoarding the secret from the rest of them. All Acheron's presence did was anger him more, and in the end that was what caused Erius to damn himself. It was the last time Acheron went to a DarkHunter to try and save him."
His gaze turned dull, haunted. "After that I took over. I go to them and pretend to be a DarkHunter too. I try to explain to them that Acheron hoards nothing and that they are all wrong with their assumptions about the origins of his powers. Usually a majority of them listen to me and go home."
It made sense for Alexion to go in. No doubt if Acheron showed up around Kyros, Kyros would attack him and fight. Ancient men weren't usually known for reasoning their way out of conflict. "They're much more likely to listen to one of their own."
He nodded. "By their very natures, DarkHunters are vengeful people. They were wronged in life and to many of them it's easy to believe they were wronged in death. They look for someone to hate."
"Acheron is an easy target."
"Yes. He's more powerful, and all of you know that he hides things from you. So once the kernel of the lie is planted, it takes root and grows into hatred and revolution."
She took a step away from him so that she could think clearly without his presence distracting her, then turned so that she could watch his face. "Then why doesn't Acheron tell the truth? Why does he hide his past from us?"
He shrugged. "When I asked you to have sex with me last night, you rejected me by saying you didn't want to sleep with a stranger. Yet for the first fifty years of your life as a Dark-Huntress, you burned through lovers like—"
She covered his mouth with her hand to silence that sentence. "How do you know that?"
He nipped at her hand with his teeth, causing her to jerk it away. His smile was wicked and warm. "I know many things about all of you. Just as Acheron does."
She didn't like the thought of that. "Did you spy on me?"
"No, but I know you. I have many of the same powers that Acheron has. Just as he can see into your heart and past, I can as well."
Danger tilted her head as she considered that. She wasn't sure she liked being transparent to anyone. Everyone needed to be able to hide parts of themselves. "Then do you know about Acheron's past?"
She saw the shame in his gaze before he moved away from her. "Answer me, Alexion."
He let out a long, tired breath as he returned the DVD boxes to her shelf. "Yes. I discovered his past by accident."